I was just thinking about posting a TDR thread. When I looked a couple of days ago I counted 6 (could have been 5) SPOT's that had been activated in the UK. Only 4 showing now so I assume they've been re-activated in Banff. The UK riders still showing are:
Looking forward to following it again I'm only just getting back into work mode after being a dot and now there will be 3 weeks approx of watching dots to distract me I don't know any of the uk riders this year but I'll be following Bailey closely as a fellow single-speeder, thanks for the head-up.
He never grew tired of my endless questions about gravel and adventure racing. Based on how he demonstrated such toughness, im pretty sure he will be vaguely exciting on the course.
- 2 guys I met on the 1st TNR, and Chris Ellison is a good chap who I emailed a fair bit with RE our respective GR5 rides.
The main dot-watch of the year for me for a fair while now, look fwd to seeing how these guys get on.
SS record is a tough one to beat, 15.5 days I think. Also have the records been re-set based on the new section in Canada being slower/tougher? Basically the SS record is only 1.5 days down on Mike Hall's record, that's a bit over 10%. Not sure if it's a very SS friendy course - the climbs aren't steep, ideal SS gradients even, but there's a lot of places you'll be losing time.
Richard and Ed were on the orange plastic bikes on 1st TNR? If so, I remember them and they left me 'n Stainsby for dead on the Gardetta push. Strong riders and HABers.
Yeah, that was us, on the orange plastic bikes! We’re not on those now - a brace of semi mandatory Cutthroats instead. Sad, I know. No, we’re not a couple. We just lack imagination.
Less than 24hrs of fannying around left Togo, nervous as hell. Forecast tomorrow good so hopefully a dry first day at least. Still plenty snow around apparently.it is what it is.
benp1 wrote:What's the water situation like on the TD? Seems like quite a few with 5 litres of water carrying capacity on the bikepacking.com TD bikes page
Depends how fast you are, how much you drink and how hot it is. I left Banff early August and it was hot until central Colorado, then it got chilly with ice on the tent most mornings, it was mid September by this time. I was happy with a 2 litre bladder and water filter most of the time. The only places I needed more were crossing the Wyoming Basin and up to Brush Mountain then again in New Mexico. I would guess the 5 litre capacity to cope with these places, I carried 8 litres in the dry places but could have made do with less.
BreninBeener wrote:I hung out with Bailey in Stillwater this spring.
He never grew tired of my endless questions about gravel and adventure racing. Based on how he demonstrated such toughness, im pretty sure he will be vaguely exciting on the course.
He is a top man.
Ian
Bailey is a good human. End of.
Chris E has done a lot of work getting to the TDR, even spent some time grilling me (with beer) with 4 others back mid winter, which was nice.
Davy from Ireland.... works on the pro rally scene, ex Baja Rally race organiser... tough.
A lot of people this year. And laughing that the Cutty is the most popular bike there, I think the days of budget Divide racing are far behind us now.
Interesting that drop-bar bikes are getting a lot more popular there now. One one hand it's basically a tough gravel route rather than what most would call mountain biking now, on the other (numbed) hand it's brutally rough after 10 days or so and grip comfort is a make or break thing.
I think it's a level of influence from some of the faster runs - JPs come to mind - that focused on the droped bikes.
I've had some very long thoughts about it over the past two years for when I go back. I'll take the Cutty certainly, but I suspect it'll be on Jones bars, not Cowchippers.
I did have them double taped, and with gel inserts, and my hands were f****d - despite over 6000km in that position before hand. It's the amount you do, time wise, during the event that you can no way replicate.
jameso wrote:Interesting that drop-bar bikes are getting a lot more popular there now. One one hand it's basically a tough gravel route rather than what most would call mountain biking now, on the other (numbed) hand it's brutally rough after 10 days or so and grip comfort is a make or break thing.
I wonder if that's a consequence of "gravel" bikes now being a quite mature rather than novel category. Then again it could be just the people that have submitted shots and details of their bikes so a self-selecting cross section.
Very few (in that group) plain MTB bars. I mentioned to Stu at the WRT that for long distance rides having the option of multiple hand positions makes a big difference to comfort as you can let different muscle groups take the strain. Quite a few of the drop bar bikes also have aero extensions partly for this but I recall Greg saying they help on some of the long flat sections.
Better weight than wisdom, a traveller cannot carry
whitestone wrote:Then again it could be just the people that have submitted shots and details of their bikes so a self-selecting cross section.
It could well be that the riders who have a shiny new cutthroat want to show it off so submit details and those on the trusty mtb they've had for years didn't bother to send in the details.
Doesn't the Cordillera have stats about the bikes each year? So after that comes out we'll have a better picture of the breakdown.
I rode with carbon jones, and no aero bars. Both my hands were completely numb for ~6 months after. I'd run some aero bars for sure. Definitely not drops!
I wonder if that's a consequence of "gravel" bikes now being a quite mature rather than novel category.
Agreed, I think there's a fashion element to it - not in that people pick bikes for that reason, just that with the prominence of gravel bikes it's more likely that more riders are either be used to, or would consider drops now than 5-8 years ago?
Cursed my decision not to take aero bars and just use the Jones bars. If only for the horrendous headwinds you encounter. Between the TD and LEL I've got to the stage where getting the lids off OJ cartons is a struggle.
Last edited by johnnystorm on Fri Jun 08, 2018 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
I was only touring the route using a full Jones setup, bike and bars, and had no hand problems at all. There are some fantastic breweries all you racer types rode past.
DSC00693.jpg by Greg.May, on Flickr
I'm only just getting back into work mode after being a dot and now there will be 3 weeks approx of watching dots to distract me 
I don't know any of the uk riders this year but I'll be following Bailey closely as a fellow single-speeder, thanks for the head-up.
